The Hunting Beast

Are scrape drippers a waste of money? I've added 4 vine scrapes to travel trails over the 70 acres I hunt. Wondering if anyone uses drippers, what scents, etc. Or if they are too risky to put out adding scent to the travel locations where the mock scrapes are.

I personally wouldn't put out jack squat. I feel the best weapon is the human mind, best Camo is bee-still, instead of rattling antlers I prefer to rely on patience and the best big buck attract is human absence

The more I read on here the more I'm beginning to see minimal equipment is the way to go.

I run 2 over existing scrapes with licking branches. I put Active Scrape in both starting in early October. Then around Halloween I mix the Active Scrape with doe estrous. I get s lot of does and bucks in working the scrapes. A lot are at night but I get some in daylight. I run cameras over both to see what's coming into them. I think the licking branch is key.

I honestly think scrapes with or without a scrape dripper is about the best bet as far as buck inventory goes. It really does you no good for the current year, but it helps you determine patterns for the following year and kind of correlate everything as far as time frames go when the big boys are on their feet.

You might get lucky and find a big boy right after dark checking one consistently, to me that would spell he's living somewhere real close. As far as hunting scrapes, it's hit or miss, and mostly miss in my opinion. Everyone is looking for a scrape the size of car hoods to sit over but you don't ever hear of them killing any big bucks, so I should expect the same results using the same tactics.

If you do a search, there are some good topics on licking branches which you think is in more prevalent use by some....mainly for inventory purposes.

As you noted, there is a consensus on here, probably moreso than any other website, that all the extra "stuff" is a waste of time and money and that said time and money is better spent finding more and better spots to hunt. I am pretty sure that consensus is proven out by the success rates by regular members on here.

I liken it to exercise, you can buy all the gadgets and potions you want but at the end of the day it's about putting one foot in front of the other and going. That's cost very little.

Depends on what you want to shoot.

If you're hunting mature bucks (3.5 years or older in many areas) I wouldn't even think about using them. If you are looking to fill the freezer, and are content with any legal antlered buck, the dripper may help you draw in a 1.5 or 2.5 year old.

6-7 years ago (before I found the beast) I used them and saw a good number of young bucks using the dripper. Never saw a mature deer.

Joe

Every season I give the local meat cutter an old pair of electric hair clippers and a couple glass jars. I ask him to shave the hair off the tarsal glands of deer people bring it. I get a doe jar and a buck jar packed full. 90% of the time I don't use scent. after 30 years of hunting, I've seen the most interactions and positive interactions with this stuff over any other product I've played with over the years. It has everything you need. I've sprinkled it in scrapes and produced good interest for inventory pics, sometimes I'll put some in cheese cloth, soak it in a bit of water and make a tea of sorts. Put that in a spray bottle. I go to New jersey where there is ridiculous densities from time to time, to fill the freezer, those deer go nuts over it. They come in on a string. Maybe that same brew would work for you in a dripper.

-Pre-Beast I used to hang drippers a lot. Golden scrape scent from Dick's I think I used. They drip for atleast 2 weeks. Got a TON of pictures of all kinds of bucks. 95% of the time they were night pics. I would hang them randomly thru the woods. It was a lot of fun to get all kinds of buck pics.

-First year as a beast hunter I hung them close to bedding and again got a ton of big buck pics. 50% of the pics were in broad daylight. got even better pictures. Big bucks in daylight.

-Now... I don't use them I just focus all my scouting on bedding. This site has taught me that stuff doesn't work (the way you want it to) and if you just focus on bedding that's all you need to do. I haven't bought anything of that stuff in the last 2 years.

Agree with the others. Great for inventory and to reference to see when an area tends to heat up every year. Unless you're hunting a really low pressure property the chance of a mature buck hitting it in daylight is low and the more often you're visiting that site the worse it will get. I'd put one out and hang a camera over it for a year. Let it soak in the data and use it for next year unless you have a cell cam which would tell you that year when activity is peaking.

Save your money. I used to buy all that fancy stuff and only got smaller bucks on camera, and everything was at night. Maybe from an inventory standpoint you may have a little luck, but after this site and various beast videos, I'd focus on bedding and transition areas. Find an active scrape near bedding and you'll be amazed what you'll have come in before dark.